Balani show is a musical phenomenon with it's roots in the Malian capital Bamako sometime around 1999/2000. Unable to afford admission to a `boîte' or nightclub, young people began searching for an outlet to amuse themselves in the evenings.
Borrowing from the village tradition of gathering under a full moon to dance to musicians (in Burkina, balafon players or bala fola are called to play for weddings, funerals and even a lunar eclipse as Moussa told me recently), the urban youth of Bamako began organising their own street parties.
In the late afternoon, walls of battered speakers would be dragged out to form a road block in a Bamako neighbourhood, chairs hired, and set out in a wide circle on the ochre soil still holding the heat of the day's sun. DJ's would play cassettes of balafon music such as Neba Solo, or perhaps MC or `ambiancer' the crowd a little.
As the fashion caught on, aspiring producers with access to a laptop and a sampler began performing live remixes, and then to create their own original `electro' balafon music. The format of the parties also began to evolve, with emcees warming up the crowd and organising games such as musical chairs for the younger children who'd come out to see what was going on. Then as night fell, teenagers would arrive in their dance crews to `battle' each other, and perform carefully choreographed routines and acrobatics.
Since then the Balani show has grown and grown, and on many a Bamako evening a party can be happened upon. Many parents approve of the parties as they usually happen right in front of peoples house fronts, allowing elders to keep an eye on their children!
Others have argued the opposite though, citing examples of fights breaking out between fiercely competitive dance crews, and of `indecent' dancing.
There is also the small matter of the balafon player being replaced by a sampler, and the loss of earning a few CFA!
In all cases, the balani show illustrates the D.I.Y aesthetic and talent in West Africa for re imagining and recycling.
Borrowing from the village tradition of gathering under a full moon to dance to musicians (in Burkina, balafon players or bala fola are called to play for weddings, funerals and even a lunar eclipse as Moussa told me recently), the urban youth of Bamako began organising their own street parties.
In the late afternoon, walls of battered speakers would be dragged out to form a road block in a Bamako neighbourhood, chairs hired, and set out in a wide circle on the ochre soil still holding the heat of the day's sun. DJ's would play cassettes of balafon music such as Neba Solo, or perhaps MC or `ambiancer' the crowd a little.
As the fashion caught on, aspiring producers with access to a laptop and a sampler began performing live remixes, and then to create their own original `electro' balafon music. The format of the parties also began to evolve, with emcees warming up the crowd and organising games such as musical chairs for the younger children who'd come out to see what was going on. Then as night fell, teenagers would arrive in their dance crews to `battle' each other, and perform carefully choreographed routines and acrobatics.
Since then the Balani show has grown and grown, and on many a Bamako evening a party can be happened upon. Many parents approve of the parties as they usually happen right in front of peoples house fronts, allowing elders to keep an eye on their children!
Others have argued the opposite though, citing examples of fights breaking out between fiercely competitive dance crews, and of `indecent' dancing.
There is also the small matter of the balafon player being replaced by a sampler, and the loss of earning a few CFA!
In all cases, the balani show illustrates the D.I.Y aesthetic and talent in West Africa for re imagining and recycling.
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